The treatment of Black soldiers in the American forces reflected
the discrimination they suffered at home, but their experience led to
increased political awareness and helped the development of the Civil
Rights movement. This theme is explored by this years essay competition
winner, Jill Woodland, a final year student at Liverpool John Moores
University.

America has repeatedly been at war, from the Revolutionary
period to Vietnam. As a result of these wars American society has suffered
outbreaks of paranoia, racial prejudice and discrimination. Which racial
group, ethnic minority or ideological beliefs are discriminated against
correlates with who the enemy was at that period, be it Southerners, the
Japanese, Germans or communists. But despite this the Black American has
suffered continual and unprecedented discrimination regardless of who
the enemy was. This essay will consider Black involvement in the Civil
War, World War I, World War II and Vietnam. I believe that tracing their
changing involvement and treatment shows how participation in America's
wars has affected Black Americans' perceptions of themselves, their country
and their place in it. I will begin my analysis by looking at the Civil
War and World War I.

The Civil
War

The Black American experience predating the Civil
War was predominantly one of slavery. Even though Black men came to fight
in a war which initially began to end secession, emancipation became a
chief concern as the Northerners recognised the huge resources which lay
at their hands, if they accepted Black recruits. Simultaneously Black
leaders like Frederick Douglas recognised that Black participation in
the Civil War was

a powerful argument in their future demands
for full rights of citizenship ... (for)"Once let the Black man get
upon his person the brass letters, US; let him get an eagle upon his
button ... bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth ...
which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the
United States.'"1

Nevertheless, Black soldiers Continued to suffer
discrimination as Berlin states in Slaves No More, 'Dealings between
Black soldiers and their officers generally ... carried all the historic
burdens of white-Black relationships in the United States'.2
They were assigned menial positions as it was argued that they had no
skill in fighting. However, those who were armed proved indispensable,
relishing the prospect of maintaining their freedom through Union success.
They helped achieve emancipation and paved the way for changes such as
the establishment of the Bureau of Colored Troops in 1863.3

Prior to World War I American society developed
increased racism and once again Black men had to fight to enlist. The
President, Woodrow Wilson, even stated that it was a "White man's wai".
4 Any progress which had
resulted from the Civil War was undermined by the inherent racism within
American society. Once again Black soldiers were generally placed in menial
positions; J R. Johnson identifies that 'Of the 200,000 Negroes who went
to France some 160,000 were used as servants and in labor battalions'.
5

World War I was billed as a war for democracy;
consequently Black Americans believed that if they defended democracy
abroad they were more likely to receive it at home. The Black leader W.
E. B. Du Bois advised,

"Let us, while the war lasts, forget our special
grievances and close ranks shoulder to shoulder with our white fellow
citizens ... fighting for democracy. We make no ordinary sacrifice,
but we make it gladly and willingly. "6

Despite this General Pershing's office was secretly
warning the French to avoid forming friendships with or commanding Black
soldiers. Nevertheless, three Black regiments were awarded medals of honour
by France, illustrating the difference liberal treatment had upon morale
and performance.

Through their experiences in France, Black Americans
began to recognise how oppressive the situation in America was, whilst
the Germans highlighted their paradoxical position as a form of propaganda.
However, as R. W. Mullen says, 'Despite the obvious truth of the German
statements, the appeal had little direct effect' 7
as Black Americans felt a strong sense of patriotism and were optimistic
that their situation would improve.

The changes which World War I
had brought to America meant more Black employment in the North and subsequent
migration. As a result white Americans became nervous concerning the changing
societal structure. The most poignant example of this vulnerability was
identified by Mullen,

'The Ku Klux Klan ... began its growth into
a national organization in the early 1920s' and 'more than seventy
Black Americans were lynched during the first year following the war,
some of them returned soldiers still in uniform.'8

Although the war had done little to enhance the
position of the Black American it helped generate an awareness that such
extreme racism was neither acceptable nor universal through their experiences
abroad.

Black Americans approached World War II in a decidedly
different manner to that of the previous war. The major awareness which
had developed in the 40s was of the enormous contradiction which lay in
fighting a war for democracy abroad which they did not have in America.
Mullen states that,

'the Black press frequently compared the similarity
of American treatment of Blacks and Nazis treatment of minorities,
the white-supremacist doctrine of America and the master-race doctrine
in Germany. 9

Evidence that this disillusionment was widespread
can be observed in the increased interest in protest organisations. 10
The recognition that wartime was precisely the moment to raise issues
concerning racial discrimination was compounded by the success of Randolphs
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters March-On-Washington Committee.
The damage which their march would have done, had it gone ahead, to the
image of a united America was seen by President Roosevelt who acquiesced
to some of the demands. As a result in 1941 he 'issued an Executive Order
to abolish all discrimination ... in employment in defense industries
and government agencies'. 11
Despite this he managed to defer the issue of desegregating the military.

One Black soldier vocalised the futility of their
situation saying "just carve on my tombstone, Here lies a Black man killed
fighting a yellow man for the protection of a white man". 12
So disparaged were some Black Americans that they became involved in another
form of protest: draft resistance. This peaceful refusal to accede to
Jim Crow segregation within the military was punished with imprisonment.
The white response was to discriminate more rigidly: Black blood was initially
refused by the Red Cross and finally only accepted for Black GI's; air
raid shelters were segregated, and similar to World War I; lynchings and
race riots grew more prevalent. 13

Despite this one million Black Americans fought
in the war. Those at home continued to experience discrimination regardless
of the fact that their 'Brothers in the military were fighting for
their country. Those who fought abroad realised to a greater degree what
some had already learnt from experiences in World War I: that the United
States was one of the most racially discriminatory of all the allies.
Extracts" from Bill Horton's poem Just A Negro Soldier illustrates
feelings of despair concerning race relations, and helps explain how the
concept of "Double V" developed:

Yet I must be patrioticMust not grumble or complainBut must fight for some "four freedoms"On which I'll have no claim...

They expect me to be loyalBut in my heart I'm notFor how can a second-class citizenBe a first-class patriot?

To hell with a war impelled by greedwhile the hungry masses cryBut to win complete equalityId fight and gladly die"14

Underpinning "Double V" was the belief that fighting
for victory against racism at home was as important as fighting fascism
abroad.

Returning to a life of segregation and discrimination
at the end of World War II caused the politicisation of many Black Americans.
The resultant civil disobedience campaign, e.g. the draft resistors, was
one of the catalysts of the 50s and 60s Civil Rights Movement. As America
emerged as a world superpower, the rest of the world focused upon her
internal political shortcomings and they found 'the major domestic criticism
to be America's handling of its racial minorities'. 15As a result of this and the recognition that Black soldiers
were needed as part of the military in a country which was often at war,
in 1948 Truman ordered full integration of the military.

Writing in 1944 Myrad expressed an expectation
that radical changes lay ahead for the Black American. After the conformity
of the McCarthy era, protest began to increase rapidly. In the late 50s
and 60s many Black protest organisations emerged: The Student Non-Violent
Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). For these groups Black rights
combined with an anti-war focus were integral. The emerging youth culture
created a new lease of life and injection of idealism into these protests;
and with the outbreak of the Vietnam War, they were presented with a fresh
focus for even more intense opposition, particularly as the reasons for
intervention were not wholly understood.

With the integration of the military, Black Americans
were more readily accepted. S M. Kohn in Jailed for Peace states
that they were in fact 'over represented, ... in the armed services ...
drafted in ... at a rate almost twice as high as whites'. 16
Although during previous wars this acceptance and increased recruitment
may have been welcomed, in Vietnam it was not as the belief that military
involvement and a willingness to fight for one's country would result
in full citizenship had disintegrated.

Involvement in the war was also affecting those
at home. Eldridge Cleaver suggested that the government were sending so
many Black men away "to kill off the cream of Black youth".17
The Black Panther Party stated in its ten point plan that it wanted them
to be exempt from military service, while other organisations, if not
so explicit in their aims, were sympathetic to, and supportive of, draft
resistance. Martin Luther King and others saw government spending drained
away by the war thus usurping funds which could have been used to 'improve
housing, education and job opportunities' 18
for an impoverished section of the community.

Opposition to the war also changed the nature
of protest. There were increased incidents such as bus boycotts and sit-ins
and a change for some from non-violence to increasing militancy. It was
on this aspect that Civil Rights protests divided. Malcolm X argued that
if the government used violence to achieve its desired aims why should
Black Americans not do the same. He also suggested that separatism should
be the aim of Black Americans wishing to escape racism, in part rejecting
the long-term aims of integration, which had so far been unsuccessful.

This separatism affected the soldiers in Vietnam,
with some choosing to fight in all-Black units and live in all-Black barracks.
Anti-war supporters could be found in the regiments both in Vietnam and
America. Indeed it was not unusual for soldiers to take part in peace
protests. This militancy had developed as the recognition that the war
they were fighting was futile and that participation was more likely to
be detrimental to race relations at home than advantageous.

Dissatisfaction with the army resulted from the
fact that the enemy was also coloured and suffering white discrimination.
Gwendolyn Patten believes that warfare was escalated when the enemy was
non-white and it was for this reason that the atomic bomb was dropped
on Japan not Germany - a white nation, and defoliant was deployed in Vietnam.19
It is unsurprising that the Black soldiers began to identify with the
enemy - as Muhammad Ali said: "No Viet Cong ever called me nigger". 20
This idea was widespread, as Michael Herr discovered, when talking to
one Black 'grunt' who justified his lack of participation stating that
if he were to 'go firin' back, I might kill one a th' brothers'. 21

The continuing discrimination Black soldiers experienced,
despite their many military efforts, had weakened the loyalty which they
felt for their country and which had insulated them from the German propaganda
of World War I. The negative effects which military involvement had on
Black men can be identified in the fact that Black protest organisations
began sending recruiters to Vietnam. Herr was told that 'there were more
than a dozen Black Panthers' in one platoon, and that one man 'was an
agent for the panthers, sent over...to recruit'.22Nevertheless, not all Black soldiers were politicised by their experiences
in the military; as one Black paratrooper said "I thought the only way
I could make it out of the ghetto, was to be the best soldier I possibly
could. 23

Participation in America's wars undoubtedly changed
Black Americans, although not in the ways expected by those who first
fought in the Civil War. The initial optimism with which they faced the
prospect of military recruitment through the Civil War and World War I
was dashed by the failure of America as a nation to recognise their integral
role. G. Perret suggests that 'war exfoliates into the fissures of a divided,
insecure nation and (binds) it together as nothing else could'. 24
Instead of being the 'social cement' 25
he identifies, involvement in America's wars for Blacks served as a catalyst
for political enlightenment. Not only were they made clearly aware of
the paradox of fighting for democracy abroad when they did not have it
at home, but they inaugurated struggle against the endemic racism in America
through politicising every Black American. The negative effect this has
had is so far reaching it is recalled in popular culture, explicitly in
the film Boyz in the Hood (1991) as the father tells his son "Black
men shouldn't fight in wars." 26